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Canada's "No Fly List" records its first hit: Maclean's

Hoping to clear his name, Quebec man takes federal government to court
TORONTO, Sept. 18 /CNW/ - Fifteen months after its controversial launch,
Canada's "No Fly List" has intercepted one suspect: a 26-year-old Montreal man
deemed to be "an immediate threat" to the "security of an aircraft."
According to two exclusive reports in Maclean's, the man - a Concordia
University master's student named Hani Al Telbani - was not allowed past the
check-in counter when he showed up for a flight at Trudeau Airport in early
June. Instead of a boarding pass, a Transport Canada official handed him an
'Emergency Direction' that declared him "an immediate threat to aviation
security." It marked the first and only time a passenger has been denied
boarding as a result of Canada's new no-fly list.
That lone refusal is now at the centre of a legal battle that threatens
to quash Canada's "Passenger Protect Program" before it ever records a second
case. Desperate to clear his name, Al Telbani is taking the federal government
to court, claiming the no-fly list is a breach of his Charter Rights to free
movement and due process. He is also demanding to see the secret evidence that
landed him on the list in the first place. "I am not a danger to the public or
to an aircraft," he wrote in a sworn affidavit.
Media can access the full reports in Maclean's by contacting:
Suneel Khanna
Suneel.khanna@rci.rogers.com
416-764-1219
Maclean's is Canada's only national weekly current affairs magazine.
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and culture. Visit www.macleans.ca